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Kingdom DECEMBER 2018 A PUBLICATION OF Worker THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST IN YOUTH Connection WWW.CIY.COM 2 STAFF LIST CIY PRESIDENT ANDY HANSEN [email protected] EDITOR CHRIS ROBERTS [email protected] ASSISTANT EDITOR AUDREY WUNDERLICH [email protected] STAFF WRITER BECCA HAINES [email protected] ART DIRECTOR AUSTIN EIDSON [email protected] CONTRIBUTING WRITERS/DESIGNERS/PHOTOGRAPHERS CRAIG DAVENPORT, MATT FOREMAN, MARK NEUENSCHWANDER, MARK RANKIN, ELLEN SMITH COVER PHOTO BY AUDREY WUNDERLICH SUBSCRIPTIONS P.O. BOX B JOPLIN, MO 64802 (888) 765-4CIY To be added to the CIY mailing list, or to receive the Kingdom Worker Connection via email, please contact [email protected] KINGDOM WORKER CONNECTION 3 KINGDOM WORKER CONNECTION CONTENTS STAFF LIST 2 PRESIDENT’S LETTER ANDY HANSEN 4 A 50th ANNIVERSARY STORY 6 OVERCOMING OBSTACLES SUPERSTART 8 BECOMING A NINJA WARRIOR 12 UNDERSTANDING THE CHAOS OF JR. HIGH 14 5.2 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT KJ-52 18 GOD-SIZED DREAMS 20 MISSIONS IS A LIFESTYLE ENGAGE 26 STANDING FOR JESUS MOVE 30 STORIES FROM THE ROAD ENGAGE 32 SOCIAL MEDIA SPOTLIGHT 33 FINAL THOUGHTS SCOTT WALKER 34 CIY PROGRAMS 35 CHRIST IN YOUTH 4 PRESIDENT’S LETTER ou are very important to Christ In Youth. As president, I want to let you in on five important facts about CIY. 1. God continues to show His favor in the events, tripsY and resources CIY is providing in its partnership with the local church. This past summer more than 46,000 young people and their adult leaders attended 58 MOVE high school weeks or MIX junior high events, and hundreds more went on an Engage mission trip. Of those, 2,500 made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord (many baptized in pools, fountains or creeks at the campuses) and nearly 2,000 declared their commitment to serve in vocational ministry. On top of that, thousands of preteens and junior high students this fall were at a SuperStart or Believe event. In total, nearly 80,000 young people participated in a CIY event or trip in 2018. CIY has expanded and is an official charity in Ireland and a MOVE event for the Republic of Ireland is scheduled for 2019. A MOVE event is also launching in Calgary, Canada in 2019. Andy Hansen PRESIDENT CHRIST IN YOUTH KINGDOM WORKER CONNECTION 5 Gary and Becky Arthur Faust join hundreds of others at the 50th Anniversary Celebration in August, committing to support CIY over the next three years during its Multiply Campaign. The campaign seeks to raise $6 million to go toward expansion of events, construction of a new film studio and training center, and an upgrade of equipment that will help the ministry create resources that can reach young people in all corners of the world in new and creative ways. 2. CIY is prayerfully preparing to grow in influence to as many for equipment to expand events, $2.5 million for the video as 100,000 young people every year by 2020. With approval production and educational complex and $2 million for from CIY’s Board of Trustees, we borrowed funds to gain specialized equipment. God has already provided nearly $1 equipment to expand and add 20 new events over the course of million toward that campaign. My prayer is that with your a three-year period. If CIY can launch these events and grow generous response, as well as from several churches and major to 1,000 attendees at each event, the result would be 20,000 donors, the Mulitply campaign will have raised more than $2 additional young people being discipled and called to a life of million before the end of 2018. Additional individual and church Kingdom work. This means that over the course of the decade of considerations in 2019, as well as three major fundraising 2020 to 2030, CIY could minister to more than 1 million students. events, have the potential to complete the goal of the Multiply campaign. Every gift is valuable. My personal appeal is for your 3. CIY is taking exciting steps toward being a leader in consideration of a sacrificial gift – one time or over a three-year communicating to young people digitally. Studies show that period. Enclosed is a response card and envelope. It would be today’s youth spend at least four hours a day on their cell phones. wonderful to receive this before the end of the year. Please, This is a screen generation. CIY has the capacity to send daily prayerfully consider and respond. age-intentional material directly to students via their phones – visual/digital information that they can easily forward to their 5. CIY continues to celebrate its 50th anniversary as a friends. This means we can influence them for Christ at events ministry. An historic and epic celebration took place on Aug. 30. where “flag in the sand” decisions are made, and then continue This event was videoed, and you can enjoy it by going to CIY’s to call, inspire and challenge them beyond the events through YouTube channel “AEffect.” Pop some popcorn, then be inspired the most popular medium that they carry everywhere. To create by the celebration that took place. Rejoice with us as to what the the content that could reach millions of students worldwide, Lord will do in the next 50 years of vision for the ministry of CIY. CIY is working toward building an adequate video studio with specialized equipment. Finally … Thank you for choosing to be a significant participant in this ministry with your prayers, promotion and provision. 4. CIY needs your prayers and sacrificial gifts to make the Together, we listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit and boldly above ministry goals a reality. To accomplish these tasks, move forward into a dynamic and ever-expanding year of CIY launched the Multiply campaign. The need is $1.5 million ministry in 2019! CHRIST IN YOUTH 6 JOIN THE PARADE CIY Trustee Jeff Walling uses opportune moment to emphasize the importance of joining the parade of witnesses that speak to the glory of Jesus STORY BY CHRIS ROBERTS eff Walling is a professional speaker and storyteller who were sitting in that room together, just the two of us again.” has been leading young people to Jesus from the stages of CIY events for more than 30 years. He has taught more The deja vu moment was even more profound because sitting lessons and preached more sermons at CIY events than next to him were some young boys that Stockton had been Jprobably any two other speakers combined. He has become praying for the past few months. He wanted desperately for them well known for his whimsical wisecracks, unexpected turns to choose Christ and to pursue a life of Kingdom work. of phrase, and heartfelt stories that make a beeline to Jesus. Thousands of young people have heard him present the Gospel At the end of the message, just as Walling had done in 1999, he message over the years ... and one of them was Lance Stockton. challenged the young people in the audience to accept Jesus for the first time and be baptized. One of boys sitting next to In the late 1990s, Stockton was a young high school boy who Stockton – Sean Vitalis – responded to that call and rose from had a hard time focusing on preachers. He didn’t grow up in the his seat. He joined hundreds of others in symbolically walking Church, and didn’t have a strong understanding of the Bible or through a door that had been set up outside the main venue by the Gospel message. In fact, had it not been for a friend inviting the MIX team as a way for young people to respond to the Gospel him to a CIY summer conference, he never would have found message. himself sitting in a row of other high school freshmen listening to a message from Jeff Walling. Like Stockton, Vitalis never thought he’d have the opportunity to thank Walling for the impact he left on his life. But in early 2018, As Stockton tells it, in that moment he heard the Gospel message both Stockton and Vitalis got the opportunity to do just that. in a way he’d never heard it before – and that weekend rocked While filming a short video for the 50th anniversary celebration, his world. He found himself captivated by Walling’s words, and Walling was surprised mid-sentence when out walked Stockton sucked into the stories that he was weaving. At the end of the and Vitalis to give him a heartfelt, face-to-face “Thank you.” sermon, when Walling challenged students to accept Jesus for the first time and be baptized, Stockton had no doubts about the After tears and hugs were shared, Walling took the opportunity decision he needed to make. He gave his life to Christ that night to impress upon the two younger men the eternal implications of and returned to his church after that event and was baptized. what had transpired between all of them. He never met Walling at that event. He never got to shake the “There were people you guys don’t know – youth leaders and man’s hand or say, “Thank you.” In fact, he never considered it speakers – who did that for me,” Walling said. “Any good thing a possibility that he could say thank you to the man who would you got out of this, is just this huge parade of people telling Jesus’ have such an impact on his life.